Texas Supreme Court upholds ban on sex-change surgeries for minors

Trans activists and their supporters rally in support of transgenderism on the steps of New York City Hall, on October 24, 2018, in New York City. The group gathered to speak out against the Trump administration’s stance on there being two sexes and not innumerable genders. Last week, The New York Times reported on an unreleased administration memo that proposes a strict biological definition of sex based on biology. | Drew Angerer/Getty Images

The Supreme Court of Texas has allowed a state law to take effect that bans the provision of sex-change surgeries and puberty-blocking drugs to minors suffering from gender dysphoria, overruling a lower court decision.

In a brief order released last Thursday, the highest court in Texas denied an emergency motion to temporarily block Senate Bill 14 from taking effect as scheduled at the beginning of September.

A lawsuit filed against the measure by multiple families with trans-identifying children living in Texas will be heard before the state supreme court on Nov. 28.

The Texas Office of the Attorney General released a statement expressing support for the court’s denial of temporary relief, calling it a win for child protection.

“The OAG will continue to enforce the laws duly enacted by the Texas Legislature and uphold the values of the people of Texas by doing everything in its power to protect children from damaging, unproven’ gender transition’ interventions,” the statement reads.

The groups that filed the lawsuit on behalf of the families included the Texas chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, the national ACLU, Lambda Legal, the Transgender Law Center, Scott Douglass & McConnico LLP and Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP.

In a joint statement, the organizations called the order a “cruel ruling” that puts trans-identifying youth “directly in harm’s way.”

“But let us be clear: The fight is far from over,” the groups asserted. “In its ruling, the district court clearly articulated the ways in which S.B. 14 likely violates the Texas Constitution by infringing upon the fundamental right of parents to make decisions concerning the care, custody, and control of their children, infringing upon Texas physicians’ right of occupational freedom, and discriminating against transgender adolescents with gender dysphoria because of their sex, sex stereotypes, and transgender status.”

“We couldn’t agree more, and look forward to continuing this fight.”

In June, Texas passed SB 14, a measure that bans medical professionals from performing sex-reassignment surgeries, such as castration or mastectomies, on minors or prescribing puberty blockers to children.

The law provides exceptions to this ban, such as when a minor is “experiencing precocious puberty,” “born with a medically verifiable genetic disorder of sex development,” or if a child “does not have the normal sex chromosome structure for male or female as determined by a physician through genetic testing.”

Additionally, the ban on puberty blockers does not apply to “a continuing course of treatment that the child began before June 1, 2023,” although the minor “shall wean off the prescription drug over a period of time and in a manner that is safe and medically appropriate and that minimizes the risk of complications.”

The progressive groups filed suit in July. Last month, the 201st Judicial District Court of Travis County granted an injunction that temporarily blocked the law.

More than 20 states have laws or policies that prevent health providers from facilitating sex-change surgeries or hormonal interventions on minors struggling with their gender identity.

In August, a three-judge panel for the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously upheld a similar law in Alabama, likewise overturning a lower court decision. In June, a federal judge issued a permanent injunction against an Arkansas law that bans sex change surgeries and hormone intervention for minors with gender dysphoria.

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